Description
Fool
Week 1
“Next Time”
April 8, 2018
By Ed Young
We’ve all made those dumb, “what was I thinking?” decisions in life and experienced the negative consequences on the other side. But we don’t have to keep making those same mistakes as we move forward. In fact, God has given us everything we need to make better decisions.
In this message, Pastor Ed Young opens up a series of talks that will point us to the perfect place to look for, discover, and apply the kind of wisdom we all need so that next time, we can make the right decision!
Transcript
Well, how are you guys doing? It sure is cold here, isn’t it? Wow, I couldn’t believe it. It was warm and all of a sudden, boom! It got really, really cold. You know, I posted a lot of stuff on social media. I like social media, I really do. And I thought a lot about what I posted on social media and I planned it, but I posted something several years ago and I thought it was kind of humorous. It really went viral. It’s the only thing in my life that’s ever gone viral. I mean, I’ve had viruses, but this is the only thing that’s ever gone viral. I was just told before I walked out it has 1.2 million Likes or views or whatever, and to me that’s a lot. Here’s what happened, and this is a very foolish thing that I did, and we’re talking about being foolish.
ILLUS: Lisa and I were on a road trip. Right at the end of the trip, we were maybe 45 minutes away from our house, our 110-pound Doberman was in the back seat in my brand new SUV. My favorite dog in the world, Ava, a 7-pound Maltipoo was in my lap and we were making our way home. It was raining outside and Lisa turned to me, a voice of wisdom,
“Honey, I think Dutch is sick. You need to stop the car.”
Fool: “Lisa, he’s not sick. He’s fine. We can make it home.” I kept driving.
Voice of wisdom: “Honey, stop the car. I’m telling you, Dutch is sick. He’s going to ruin the car.”
“Lisa, Dutch is fine! I can tell, it’s raining, we’re not going to stop the car.” This went on for a while. The voice of wisdom, versus the response of a fool. So she kept on and I looked back and I thought, man. Dutch does look kind of bad. And at one point I could tell he was trying to get out of the car. His fingernails and toenails were imprinting the Corinthian leather on my back seats. He was like that, and I go,
“OK, Lisa, I’m going to pull over.” I put my blinker on… <blinker sound effect>… it was too late. He had – and let me warn you – explosive diarrhea. Now, don’t send me any hate because I said diarrhea. Everyone deals with it, OK? I’m going to show you the video because I filmed it. Now wait a minute. If you’re squeamish, close your eyes. I know way back in the balcony, hey, just close your eyes. I want you to see this. I call this, because it happened around Halloween, I call this the doo-doo-demon. Watch this.
<video of Dutch having diarrhea in the back seat of Ed’s SUV>
Do you know how much money that cost? Oh, no, no, no. They couldn’t clean it. I had to get new seats. Oh yeah, I was without a car for several weeks. It was really bad. I’m a fool. I am a fool! I didn’t listen to the voice of wisdom.
You’ve got wisdom on one hand, you’ve got foolishness on the other. Let’s do a series about being foolish. Have you ever been foolish? Have you ever taken the path of folly? I have. Have you ever been foolish?
You might be going, “Well, I was foolish to marry that guy after only dating him for three weeks. I was foolish because I didn’t work diligently enough on my college education, or maybe my Master’s. I was foolish because I kept spending and spending and spending and now I’m in serious trouble financially. I was foolish because I didn’t spend time with my spouse with those date nights, and I put the kids over my spouse. I was foolish!”
I think all of us would nod and say, yep. I’ve taken the path of foolishness before.
We have an option, do we not? The path of folly. And we have a fascination, at least I do, with foolishness. We tend to kind of naturally take that path, it’s just who we are. We have that pull for folly and foolishness as opposed to wisdom.
Now listen to me. I’m not talking about knowledge. We’re going to look at the juxtaposition between the path of wisdom versus the path of folly or foolishness. I’m not talking about knowledge. Knowledge is great. Gain knowledge, get an education. But I’m here to tell you it’s not the answer to life’s problems.
We’re the most educated culture in the history of the world, yet our culture is collapsing all around us. We’re drowning in data, yet wisdom is waning. We have more knowledge at our fingertips than ever before, yet we’re walking the path of foolishness. We can travel faster than we’ve ever traveled before but I would argue we’re traveling in the wrong direction. Foolishness. Foolishness. Information, yeah, we’ve got that. Knowledge, we’ve got that. I’m talking about something deeper. I’m talking about wisdom.
There’s a difference in knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is something you gain. Wisdom is something you receive. Knowledge is something that’s kind of in the head, wisdom is more in the heart. Knowledge teaches you, wisdom transforms you. Wisdom is from God. We need wisdom. I need wisdom, you need wisdom. I pray for wisdom in my life, all the time. I pray for wisdom as I teach scripture. I pray for wisdom. I pray that you, the church here and in all of our different locations, would have wisdom. I pray that my children, who are now adults, would have wisdom. My grandchildren would have wisdom. I pray for wisdom, wisdom.
Do you have wisdom? Again, I’m not talking about knowledge. And when I say fool I’m not talking about someone who is stupid or someone who is a card-carrying idiot, I’m not talking about that. A fool can be defined as someone who is open. If you look at the word fool in the original language, I’m talking about from the Bible, it means someone who is just open. A fool is open to anything and everything and they really don’t believe nothing. That’s just kind of what it means to be a fool. And there are a lot of educated fools.
ILLUS: I have a friend of mine in the Bahamas, and I spent a lot of time in the Bahamas in the out-islands. In other words, not where the tourists go but where the real Bahamians live. They have a great saying. When you do something ridiculous in the Bahamas they say, “You’re doin’ fool.” I like that. You’re doin fool.
So we’re either doing fool or we’re doing faith. So, you can have a high IQ but a low GQ. And I’m not talking about a cool outfit, I’m talking about a God Quotient. Because wisdom comes from God. I’ll say it again, wisdom comes from God.
If I’m a fool I’m just open and I’m just kind of flying by the seat of my pants. Whatever makes me look good, whatever makes me feel good, what puts wind in my sail. If I do that away from God, if I divorce God and keep God at arm’s length, I’m going to make foolish decisions. But if I start with God and go, “God, you’re the beginning. You’re the genesis. It’s all about you. I receive you and I receive this wisdom.” You do that, God will take you on a course of wisdom. He will have you make amazing decisions as you negotiate the maze of life.
So having said that, we’re going to do a series on the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is nestled over in the Old Testament. We’re going to be in this series for 10 weeks. You might be going, “Ed, get out of town. Have you lost your mind?” No, no, no. Ten weeks. The book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom. What’s proverbs about? Wisdom. No really, what’s it about? Wisdom. “Seriously Ed, what’s it about?” Wisdom. But here’s the great stuff. Wisdom in relationships, you’re married, you’re single, you’re young. Really it’s for young people, this whole book, but also it’s for people like me and others here. It talks about relationships. Proverbs talks about initiative. Proverbs talks about work. We’re going to do a whole message on work, it’s going to be fun. It talks about temptation. It talks about adultery. It talks about wealth. It talks about success. It talks about running with the right squad. I said to myself, man I wish the book of Proverbs was really relevant. I said to myself, you know, we need to read this and study this and really unpack it. Thirty-one chapters. I’ll give you some homework right now. I want you to read a Proverb, one proverb a day, for the next 31 days. And then we’ll start from Chapter 1 again after we’ve done the 31 days of proverbs. Proverbs.
Written by Solomon, written by (arguably) the wisest man who ever lived next to Jesus. I say arguably, the Bible says he is. Solomon also was the wealthiest man who has ever lived. He memorized over 2005 proverbs. People would come from all over the world to listen to him wax eloquently about all sorts of subjects. Solomon, King Solomon. He was king during the Golden Era of Israel. Solomon, man, he had it going on! God appeared to him. In fact, in the Old Testament, Jesus appeared to him. You might be going, “In the Old Testament?” Yes, it was called a theophany. A theophany is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus before his incarnation. Theophany.
And Jesus basically said, “Hey Solomon, what do you want? I mean, seriously. What do you want?” Now how cool would that be if Jesus appeared to you right now? You can have anything, Ed. Hey Andy, you can have anything! Laura, anything! What would it be? Oh, I want more followers on Instagram. I want to be popular. I want power, man. That’s what I want! No, I want cash money, that’s what I want! You know what Solomon’s answer was? It was brilliant.
“I want wisdom.”
Jesus might have said, “Come back?” Wisdom.
But check it out. He received wisdom, Solomon became wealthy and popular and powerful. Isn’t that amazing? Solomon wrote this. Now there were two other contributors, minor contributors, that we don’t really know that much about. Solomon, though, wrote it. So you’ve got a father (Solomon) who was a king writing this to his kids. Our Father, our Heavenly Father, who is a King, is also writing this to his kids. Because we’re the King’s kids. Isn’t that great?
So when we read Proverbs we don’t just go, “Oh, that’s a cute riddle. That’s a very interesting questions. Man, that’s so, so funny!” Proverbs is the word of God revealed to you and me about something we desperately need in this hour, wisdom. Wisdom. Do you want some wisdom? I do.
And what I like about Proverbs, and this is just an introductory message today, I like Proverbs because Proverbs basically says, “Hey, frontload wisdom.”
Because too many people are running stadium steps of regret and shame. Have you ever run the stadium steps of regret and shame? I have. OK, Solomon goes, “Time out. Time out. Frontload your life with wisdom.”
And here’s what’s so exciting. Most people here are really young. You really are. We have a young church, isn’t that great? And if you look at the tenor and tone this is going to be for young people, but even if you’re older, even – you know, I’m 33 years old – but even if you’re like maybe 57, which is really old, this is still (that’s how old I am), this is still for us. Because even though we can look back and go, “Man, that was so foolish! Why didn’t I listen to my wife? Why did I allow Dutch to ruin my brand new SUV?” Even if you can say that, you can go, “I’m not going to do that the next time. I’m not going to date that guy just for several weeks and then walk down the aisle. I’m going to watch my spending habits. You know, I’m going to be more diligent.”
Let’s frontload wisdom as opposed to going, “Oh man! I’m just going to do what I’m going to do. You know, God, that’s fine. But oh man, I’m just going to make my decisions myself.”
Because if you are on the self-improvement plan away from God, let me just say it to you, you’ll end up making the same foolish mistakes that have led to where you are today. I’ve talked to too many people who say, “You know Ed, man, it’s my ex-spouse. That’s my problem. Or my parents, I mean, that’s really my problem. Or this church I’ve grown up in, that’s my problem. Or because I’m this or that, or I was born in this family, or whatever.”
I understand those things can be factors, but the bottom line is when you make decisions away from God you’re going to take the path of foolishness and you’ll keep on making the same bad decisions over and over and over. So we see the wisdom of God. The book of Proverbs is about wisdom.
There’s one verse that I want us to understand and appropriate and apply into our lives. It pretty much summarizes the entire book. Proverbs 1:7, we’re going to read it together. Are you ready?
Now let me stop real quick. Do you have the FC app? Do you have the Fellowship Church app? If you don’t, lift your hand. I’m not going to call you out. Seriously. OK, get it right now. It’s very easy. Go to the app store, type in Fellowship Church. You’ll see an icon. Get and you’ll have the Fellowship app. You’ll see all of my notes are on the app. All of the Scripture I’m using, on the app, right there. Also, we write – I write – devotionals for you every single day. A 90-second devotional. Boom! Prayer, Bible, boom! Now obviously you can spend more time than that. It’s written around what I’ve talked about on the weekends. What’s going on at Fellowship Church? It’s right there, the FC app. You got it? Are you excited? I heard someone say no. If you have problems just go to our VIP area and go, “Man, I’m trying to download this app and I couldn’t.” We’ll help you along with that. The FC app. I talked to a guy this Thursday who has been going to Fellowship Church since he was in the third grade. He’d never heard of the FC app! I couldn’t believe it.
Anyway, let’s read it together. You ready? Theme of Proverbs, right? You ready? 1-2-3.
Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
We start with God. And you’re going to find out something. God the Father gives us wisdom. God the Son, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians, is wisdom. Jesus is wisdom. The Holy Spirit of God pours wisdom out into your life and mine. So it’s a Trinitarian thing. The Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Because specifically the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:30 it says, “Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom of God…”
What is wisdom anyway? Wisdom is seeing life from God’s perspective. What is wisdom, anyway? Doing life through God’s eyes, through his hands, through his ears, through his feet. This word fool is mentioned over 70 times in the book of Proverbs. It comes from the Hebrew root word Nabal. Nabal was a guy, in specifically 1 Samuel 25:25, who was a fool. Nabal, he was like, “Man, there is no God. I’m going to do what I’m going to do.”
So that’s the root of this. Don’t be a Nabal. Don’t. You need to be someone who has received the gift of wisdom. I’m not saying you shouldn’t know stuff. I’m not anti-education. But I’m talking about something much deeper, I’m talking about the application of knowledge, which is wisdom, wisdom, wisdom.
So how do you get wisdom? I mean, let’s just start there. “How do you get this stuff, Ed?” Well, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It starts with God, we know that. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Fools are like, “I’m going to do what I’m going to do.” But too many people are doing fool as opposed to doing faith.
Well Proverbs 1:20-22 talk about wisdom. You know, wisdom calls for you and me? It calls for us. It calls publically! Calls, wisdom! Wisdom (dom-dom)! Wisdom (dom-dom)! So don’t be a dum-dum, get wisdom. Notice it’s a public call. The Bible says in Proverbs 1:20, “Wisdom calls aloud, outside she raises her voice in the open squares.”
“Pull over, honey! Dutch is sick!”
“She cries out in the chief concourses…” Maybe at DFW. Maybe at Miami International. “… at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words.”
Now check this out. Wisdom is talking to people who are fools. Again, not people who are stupid, I’m not throwing out any hate or anything but I’m talking about people who are just open. Remember, that’s what a fool is. Someone who is just open to anything and everything and they believe nothing.
“She cries out (and check it out, verse 22), how long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge.”
Read here, wisdom. So a fool starts out simple, and then this simple person, this simpleton who is open to anything, everything, and believes nothing, who is swayed and pulled by this crowd or this formula or this vibe and you know, whatever feels good, I just kind of do it, man. I just go with my heart and my emotions, and that’s just who I am. That’s foolish.
But notice the simple, after you remain in Simpleville for a long time, you’ll turn into someone who is scornful. Read here, a cynic. Read here, someone who is diametrically opposed to the wisdom of God. And we see so, so, so many people in our world today. Names, faces, I mean if you scroll through the people on your Smartphone, how many people would you go, “Oh, she’s wise. Oh, he’s got wisdom.” We’re going to discover that the companion of fools suffers harm.
Now look at verse 23 and 28. We’re just flying now. Notice repentance here, a repentant heart. A repentant heart is where it starts if you’re going to receive wisdom. Wisdom cries out for everybody. God wants everybody to have wisdom. Jesus, our wisdom, died on the cross, rose again, so that you and me could have wisdom. Isn’t that awesome? God wants us to be healthy, wealthy and wise. Not as the world sees it, no, no, no, no. According to God’s economy. So check out repentance.
“Turn at my rebuke.” The word repentance simply means I’m going to make an about-face. A repentant heart is like, you know what? I’m not going to go down the path of folly any more. <braking sound effect> I’m going the opposite direction. Repent. “Surely I will pour out my Spirit (here we go, the Holy Spirit of God) on you. I’ll make my words known to you.”
This book is the Word of God. And it’s important, because at Fellowship Church we’re people of the book. We have no man-made creed. The Bible is our authority. And the Bible is called the Word of God, it’s the revealed Word of God to us. We’re to know the Word of God, the Bible.
So the Bible is our sole authority. You might want to write this down. This is what we believe at Fellowship Church. Our church is as grounded in church history as you can possibly be. We believe the Bible is our sole authority. No man-made creed, it’s not my opinion. Yeah, we have unique styles. I mean everybody has a different style. I have a style, you have a style, the Bible is our sole authority.
#2 – We believe in the priesthood of the believer. I don’t have to go through a priest to get to God. Now, Catholics believe that and it’s not Biblical. I love Catholics, I have friends who are Catholics, it’s not Biblical, though. Study church history. Jesus is our high priest. Read the book of Hebrews, for example, and throughout Scripture. Jesus is our high priest. So the Bible is our sole authority. #2 – We believe in the priesthood of the believer. You can pray, young lady, to God any time day or night, and when you conclude your prayer “in Jesus’ name”… Last week, which was Easter, I talked about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. What did Jesus say? It is finished. Remember that. It is what? Finished. And then he sat down at the right hand of the Father. So Jesus is interpreting your prayers and mine, even words we can’t even articulate, to the Father. He is my advocate, mediator, high priest.
#3 – We believe in baptism by immersion. Baptism by immersion. Lisa grew up Lutheran, which is a lot like a Catholic. She was sprinkled. How many of you were sprinkled as a baby? A lot of you. OK, great. Good for you. We baptize by immersion. Why? That’s what the Bible says. Why? The word baptized in the original language is pronounced baptizo. It means to dip, to immerse. What better illustration a death, burial, and resurrection than immersing someone underwater? And sprinkling came into vogue because there was a shortage of water, and for people they thought the head was the seat of the intellect, so they began to sprinkle. Catholics and other people believe (and this is not Biblical, not in the Bible) they believe in baptismal regeneration. In other words, baptism saves you. That’s nowhere in Scripture. I’ll say it again, nowhere in Scripture. I’ll say it one more time. It’s not in the Bible. So you can’t take one verse out of the Bible and go, “Oh, that’s it! That’s it! I see it! You said it, God!” like a kid to mom or dad. “Mom, you said it! Dad…” OK, take that verse and compare it to all the other verses about baptism or whatever, the priesthood of the believer. So the Bible is our sole authority, priesthood of the believer, baptism by immersion, and we practice believer’s baptism.
Every baptism in the Bible occurred after someone made a faith decision. We have parent/child dedication, but a child doesn’t understand enough to make that faith decision. So if they were to die before the age of accountability, they’re going to Heaven. Is this helping people? Is this helping? OK. All right. Church History 101.
Also, we believe in the autonomy of the local church. The autonomy, what’s autonomy? Every church is independent. We’re not controlled by Rome or people in Nashville or Borneo, we determine our own destiny.
ILLUS: I was talking to a friend of mine who was asking me some questions about Catholicism. And I said, “You know, if Catholicism was the way to go, our church would be Catholic. If Catholicism was the most historically accurate, I’d be a priest. Or I would be a Lutheran, or a Presbyterian. There’s not going to be any Catholics or Baptists or Lutherans or Methodists in Heaven, only Christians.”
So it’s crucial that we understand these things. And whenever we look at Scripture we need to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. We need to look at the context and we need – if there are some Scriptures that are fuzzy – and when it comes to the major doctrines they’re not fuzzy. So it’s not like, “Oh, I got this new interpretation!”
Uh, sorry. Because there’s only been about 10,000 people who have forgotten more than you know throughout the last several thousand years in history who have asked those questions. Sometimes people will try to do the intellectual thing with me when it comes to the validity of Scripture or Jesus. And I’m like, “Hey man. I don’t care how smart you are, there have been people who are 5X smarter than you who have asked the same questions, better than you’re asking me right now.” Some are believers and some aren’t. Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t ask questions. That’s cool. And some of the Proverbs are questions, but I am saying that we live by faith. Even the fool lives by faith.
Wisdom calls out. Wisdom cries out publically. It has a passionate call. It’s a pressing call. How do we receive it? We fear God. How do we receive it? We turn from our sins. How do we receive it? It’s a spirit thing. How do we receive it? The Word of God.
But here’s what’s scary. “I called you and you have refused (verse 24). I have stretched out my hand to you and no one regarded.”
Man, that’s a sobering verse. That’s a Biblical buzz-kill right there. Jesus reaching his hand out for people, yet people just going out and slapping it away. No, no, no. No, no, no. And as you keep reading there is a time when the grace of God transitions into the judgment of God. God’s grace and forgiveness is available right now for you at this moment. It might not be tomorrow.
Well, man, is God angry at me? No. You do that to yourself. So do I. And the Bible says whatever I sow is what I’m going to reap. You reap what you sow. So if I walk down the path of folly, away from God, slapping his hand off me, not listening to his call, blocking his call, dismissing his call, I’m going to eat the fruit (the book of Proverbs says) of the stuff I planted away from God.
And some of you right now are going, “Man, I’m eating the fruit of a substance abuse. I’m eating the fruit of an immoral life. I’m eating the fruit of exaggerating and lying. I’m eating the fruit of being lazy.”
I feel you. Again, all of us can point to times in our lives where we’re running the stadium steps of shame and regret. I understand it. It will wear you out. Respond to God’s voice today.
Look at chapter 2, notice the invitation. “My son, if you receive my word…” This word receive, write in your margin “welcome mat.”
ILLUS: Lisa’s parents, you’ll love her parents’ names, I mean they’re from the dirty south. Mendel and Elva Lee. I’m not making those names up. Mendel passed away years ago. Elva is like 92 years old, so Lisa will live way past me. She’ll be like, “Who was that first guy I met? That skinny preacher that had the hair transplants?” Anyway, she’ll be about 130.
But people don’t know whether to laugh at me or not. I’m just kidding! Just joking around! And I post stuff on social media so often. So often what I post on social media is a joke and people think I’m serious.
ILLUS: Did you see my post this week? I posted a picture of Ava. She’s my favorite dog I’ve ever had in my life, 7 years old, a little Maltipoo. I love her, I don’t know why. She just stole my heart. Well, she’s been chasing squirrels in our yard for 7 years and our back yard pretty much is all cement. We have a pool so it’s just cement. And we have a little bit of grass but these squirrels will drink out of our pool and they’ll cruise around. And if they’re not careful Ava, because she’s fast, will chase them down. She caught a squirrel and brought it into our den. And check it out. I posted that on social media.
Now you know that Ava is happy because she got the squirrel, and the squirrel graduated from this life to the next. And Ava is praying over her. See, she has her paw lifted. She’s an incredible Christian because she… I have an office at home and she sits in the chair opposite me and I preach to her all the time. So I think she’s saved, but I’m not sure there’s a verse in the Bible that supports that.
See, that’s out of context. Will animals go to Heaven? People ask me that sometimes. Will animals go to Heaven? You know what? I really believe they will and let me tell you why. There are several texts. They don’t have a soul like we do, but you know God says the lion and the lamb will lie together. The Bible says Heaven will be a place where connectivity and relational harmony and creation will all be one, will be with Jesus. So I personally believe, I really do, that our animals will be there. That’s my opinion. Now I cannot give you an exact – wow, thank you. Man.
OK, I posted that picture of Ava. You will not believe the hate. I knew I’d get hate. I did it just for that. Because if you want to see fools, just go online. It’s hilarious! People were all over me. Up in my grill, this, that, whatever. I’m like, so you’re worried about a dead squirrel when we take the lives of about 2 million developing babies every year in our country? Come back?
And so did you see the next picture I posted? No one even got it. We have these fool shirts and I have a squirrel wearing the fool shirt. I don’t think the haters got that. I thought it was hilarious! So often, see, I don’t even post to get likes. I just post just for the humor. And sometimes I’ll just post for a couple of my friends just so they’ll laugh. So remember when you see me on social media, what you might think is not always the purpose of it. It could be 2 or 3 meanings deeper than that. Some are going… wow. Oh yeah. Not bad, funny stuff. Funny stuff, funny stuff.
Anyway, Ava killed a squirrel. Isn’t that great? Now, though, here’s how smart Ava is. Gotta love her. Man, when she passes I don’t know what I’ll do. I mean, seriously it almost makes me tear to think about her passing, but she has hopefully more and more years left. She’ll run off. She’s the most aggressive dog we’ve ever had. So if I just say squirrel, she’s like that. If I say squ…
And now, I promise you, once she tasted squirrel blood, the last two days if I say squirrel I’m talking about she loses her mind.
“Ed, I mean why are you saying that? Because that doesn’t relate to the Scripture.” What? Yes it does! <rewind sound effect> Look at verse 2. See, everything I say up here hopefully has a meaning and purpose when I’m preaching, or on social media. “My son, if you receive my words…” that’s the welcome mat. Mendel and Elva, they would always say, oh yeah! That’s right! “Welcome, come on in!” they were very hospitable. We welcome wisdom. That’s why I said that, the welcome mat.
“…and treasure my commands within you (that’s the Bible) so that you incline…” Inclination. The word incline in the Hebrew, picture a dog perking his or her ears up. Squ… <bark-bark-bark!> Told ya. Told ya I’d bring it back. And you thought I was going off subject. And you thought I was just going on one of my ADD rants. No, no, no!
So notice the invitation to wisdom: If you receive. Notice the inclination as well: and treasure my commands within you. Then the application of wisdom: so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding.
Oh man, great that you have knowledge, Biblical knowledge. You understand the aqueduct system during the time of Solomon, and you know how many horse stables he had (40,000). You know all that. Well, that’s knowledge. Cool. Apply that and put it to work. See life through the perspective of God’s heart, through his eyes, through his ears, and I’m going to tell you something. You won’t me doing fool, you’ll be doing faith. You won’t be making those dumb, foolish decisions, keeping Dutch trapped in the brand new SUV when he was sick. You’re going to listen to that voice of wisdom.
So stay with me, please, over the next 10 weeks. I mean, I’m rearranging a lot of stuff because I’m traveling a few weeks to be here at Fellowship Church at one of our campuses. I want you to do the same, because the blessings of wisdom are absolutely awesome! Would you pray with me?
[Ed leads in closing prayer.]
